Mendelsohn Wants To Play Doctor Doom

He’s considered one of the greatest comic book villains of all time, but the screen incarnations of Doctor Doom from “Fantastic Four” have been decidedly lacking.

Julian McMahon and Toby Kebbell have both previously tackled the role, and neither received much notice for it. The status of the property remains in flux right now, especially with Fox considering selling off its film assets. Even so, “Fantastic Four” remains too valuable a franchise to let lie and there’s little doubt another film adaptation will be tried again in the near future.

When it does, one person has eagerly put up his hand to take his turn in the role – acclaimed veteran Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn. Hollywood’s current villain du jour, the “Rogue One” antagonist has key roles in next year’s “Ready Player One” and “Robin Hood” and is rumored to be playing the villain in the “Captain Marvel” film at Marvel Studios.

Mendelsohn recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote “Darkest Hour” and spoke of his love for Doctor Doom:

“Doctor Doom is the greatest comic character of all time. That’s a great role. The thing that’s appealing about Victor is the damage and trauma, the loss of the family, the wrong done to him and then the takeover, the revenge, and then the protectiveness of Latveria wrapped in that Cold War vibe. There’s something about the combination of that. What actually makes him great is his caring bit.”